They Grow Up Too Fast!

Talk about surreal! This past Monday, I toured a local preschool for Mason to attend this coming Fall. It was so weird knowing that a) he is going to be in preschool and b) looking at some of the kids in the classrooms that he was going to be in there. Learning. Playing. Crafting. Having fun. It has made me realize just how quickly these 3 years have gone and how precious they really are. I can't get them back. Ever. And even though Mason and I are butting heads like crazy right now, hence him needing to go to preschool, I still love him to death and love seeing how much he is learning.

Here are things that I am doing now to help prep him for his entrance into preschool:

(Mason at 5 days old) 

~I am reading to him every single day now. Multiple times a day. We were reading once a day on average but now we pull out the books many times a day. And they almost all happen to be dinosaur related. I am including daily reading of the Bible into our days too.

~ I just ordered this calendar set for him, which I will get laminated at Staple's and hang it near the kitchen table for him to use and learn from. We have been talking about the days of the week and the order they come in. He knows that Sunday is church day. And he thinks that Saturday is ice cream day. (not sure where he got that because we don't usually get ice cream on a Saturday.)

(Mason 1 year old) 

~Sing ABC's and make sure to count everyday. Mason loves to count how many eggs we have left every morning after I make breakfast. It takes a lot of patience from me to let and trust him to handle the eggs without breaking them, but I am working on that. He doesn't really like to sing and it is usually only at bed time at night that he lets me sing. So I try to throw in the ABC's before he goes to bed at night.

(Mason 2 years old) 

~Work on his alphabet puzzle more and have him` tell me the sound each letter makes and ask him to find various letters. Make it a search for the letter kind of game. Oh and when he wants into my tablet or phone he needs to enter in the correct number passcode. I tell him the number and he has to find it!

I will say I know I can be better at teaching him things. I don't really know how to teach a 3 year old though. Give me a 6-12 year old and I am fine. I know how to talk to them. So this is a huge learning process for me too. But together we are learning and I know he is super smart and a great listener, when he wants to be. If you have any advice for this fledging preschool mommy please let me know what else I can do to help this kiddo out!

(Mason 3 years old)

(Do you want to Build a Snowman melody) 

Do you want to go to preschool?

Do you want to make new friends? 

Learn to count to 10, 

sing and play

you will think it's great! 

You will learn to read and write

Yes, I know you will

You're such a smart little guy! 

Do you want to go to preschool? 

Wow! You are in preschool! 

Time flies by! 

Disney Princess 1/2 Marathon Tips For New Runners: 1/2 Marathon Race

It's race morning and you area all ready to go. You have survived the 2 mile walk to get to the start line and the MC's are counting you down to your corral starting the race. Biggest thing to keep in mind, regardless of corral, is to STAY IN FRONT OF THE BALLOON LADIES!

~Quick picture opportunity on the bridge~

~One of the coolest things about the Disney races is that there is great entertainment on the course. Lots of picture opportunities. You can decide how often you want to take pictures, whether it is at ever mile marker or at ever character, or every other character, or just a couple. But the biggest thing to keep in mind is that there is a running clock. I was in corral M and at about mile 8 I started passing people that had corral C on their bibs. These people have been stopping for lots of pictures along the way, which is pretty cool that they can. But there is still a time limit to end the race and the balloon ladies are that time limit. As long as you stay in front of them you are golden!

~Know that if you are in a back corral, like j-n, and if you had been training at keeping a 15 min mile pace, you might not be able to take as many photo opportunities as you want. The lines, like the port-a-poties get pretty long. So line up at your own risk. I didn't have time to wait for one line for a photo with any characters. I knew after my first potty stop that I was going to be pushing the time limit because the lines for the bathrooms were 8 minutes, at LEAST! This is something that people who are in the faster corrals don't really have to experience. Also, there will be bottleneck areas where you are going to be walking to get through the narrow areas. Like waiting to "run" through the castle, nope I walked. Oh and "running down Main street" nope had to walk that one too. Actually K and I ran up on the sidewalk to bypass everyone walking down main street. There was just so many people. I got really bummed about that but I was thankful for the rest.

~Picture opportunity but also tons of people WALKING!~

~Secret bathroom that might not be that busy: Every one knows about the Tomorrowland bathroom that is the first "real" bathroom that you get to use. And the mens bathroom gets taken over by female too by the way, but there is another, actually a few more. But they are off the course just a little bit and you might not be allowed, or they might not be open. But if you need to go and can't wait in the line, you can try these other places. I have read from other bloggers that they did use the bathrooms by It's A Small World and there was NO LINE AT ALL! I circled them on the map below. One of the circles, the farthest off to the left is over a green space. That is just under Rapunzel's tower and there are bathrooms over there. Again, some of these restrooms might not be open. So go at your own risk! (pun intended!)

~One thing to know that if you are in the back of the pack. Still look around you. Enjoy the view, the experience and just have fun. And more than anything, JUST KEEP GOING! I knew that if I stopped I might not be able to keep going and that scared me. I wanted to finish. I had to finish no matter what. I earned my medal with every ounce of my being. I tried and did pretty well, for a pregnant lady. But you can do this! Just remember to have fun! Talk to other races around you. Encourage them. Help give them more motivation to finish that race!

~Know that there are 3 hills just before you enter Epcot. They are on/off ramps around mile 10. You will be tired but just keep moving. Eat some candy to give you more energy at this point so you can keep going. See my motto here, just keep going.

~Standing room only to get through the castle. No running for us!~

~Once inside Epcot you are in the clear of the Balloon ladies. So your goal is to get to Epcot and just keep moving! That is all you have to do. You are almost done and you are golden! Sad thing is after the Magic Kingdom, at mile 6 you have a long stretch of just road in front of you. This is the hard stretch but just make it to Epcot! That is your goal. AND Keep going! only 1.1 miles left to go!

~Just .1 miles to go!~

~Look around you as you cross that finish line. Give Mickey or whatever character is on the side a HUGE HIGH FIVE just before you cross. Thank the voleenter for your medal and make sure to get doused in glitter before you leave! Also take a picture of you and your medal. You earned it. Smile in the picture. Cry if you have to but get that picture. (I totally regret not getting my picture. I just wanted my husband and I forgot.) But this is all about my tips for you, and when I do this race again you better believe I will be getting a picture of my medal all pink faced and huge smile! There is a background that has Princess 1/2 marathon written all over it too if you want to do it in front of that for further proof you finished.

~There is an engraver tent that you can have your name, time and date engraved on the back of your medal. Pack some money in your fuel belt or hide it in your checked bag if you have to, or have someone meet you there with money but you have that option to get your medal engraved!

~Finish Line!~

Disney Princess 1/2 Marathon Tips for New Runners: Race Morning

If you have stumbled upon my blog about the Run Disney Princess Half Marathon looking for tips, I am sure that you have probably read at other places that EARLY TO BED, EARLY TO RISE!

When you get to your hotel, on WDW or off site, check with your hotel, if there is transportation provided and what time the transportation is offered for race morning. It doesn't matter if you drive there or take transpiration provided for you, you will be leaving VERY EARLY IN THE MORNING! K and I set 2 alarms to go off to make sure we woke up for a lovely 2:45 am! She set the ring tone to Eye of the Tiger. We were staying at the Shades of Green resort on the WDW park. (Shades of Green is the military hotel that is on the resort for only military guests and their families! It is AWESOME! If military check it out!) It is located across the street from the Polynesian resort, and we actually ran right past it during the 1/2 marathon! We figured that we would walk to the Polynesian and then catch the buses there but thankfully Shades had their own buses. You are going to want to be to the busses pretty early, because they fill up quickly and you don't want to be running to the start of the race then run the 1/2. No fun! We were on our bus by 3:45 or so am!

(1st long walk!)

Know that where the busses drop you off, is a LONG WALK! A very long walk. It feels like forever just to get to the waiting area. Not the corral staging area just the pre-marathon waiting area. There was a band/DJ playing music. Lots of people were having fun. I was in search of food, cause I was still hungry and found a banana from one of the tents (a race volunteer took pity on me and passed me one.) And a bathroom. K made me drink tons of water when I woke up, when we got on the bus and on our way to the waiting area. I already had to go. NOT GOOD!

There were tons of bathrooms to choose from so we went. I learned that morning how hard it was going to be going to the bathroom with my tutu and big pregnant belly! EEK! We then found a place to sit and rest by the gates that would open to take us to the coral staging area. I was on the hunt trying to find other bloggers I followed, never found them but I looked! I wanted to even go up in the coral area that I knew she would be but I didn't want to be that stalkerish! We walked the next mile or so to the staging are and K and I found my corral, 1 down from hers and sat down near the front. We talked about our running strategy and she had me munch on more food and drink MORE water. I decided that I needed to go to the bathroom again and went on search to the hundreds more port-a-potties there. I got back in the coral and the first corral was off. And we waited our turn. This was it! I was about to embark on my first 1/2 marathon. 29 weeks pregnant.

(Waiting in the corrals!) 

Tips:
Bring water and food to munch on while you wait. Use the port-a-poties by the corrals before the race starts, because the line at the mile 1 port-a-poties is LONG! The line at all the port-a-potties is long, except for mile 13. I didn't have to wait for that one!

Also, it can be a little chilly until the race starts. Head to Goodwill and find a hoodie to toss to the side after the first mile or 2 when you warm up. Disney takes all the toss clothing and donates them so it is for a good cause!

(Everyone behind us)

Make sure you rest and sit down, so bring a towel or something to sit on, again a toss clothing if you are worried about sitting on the ground! When you get there it will feel like a bunch of hurry up and wait, and it is but it's ok. Just rest as much as possible. Get off your feet and sit down!

From where the busses drop you off to the corrals is seriously about 2 miles. So just know that. You are awesome! Who else do you know that walks 2 miles before a half marathon just to start the half marathon!

(Ready, Set...)

PCOS and Infertility: My Story

After my recent announcement you probably wouldn't believe that I did suffer from infertility for 9 years. It is true. Matt and I were married in 2002 and by 2003 I was off birth control and trying to get pregnant. Mid 2003 we went to my doctor's office and they told me that the best way to get pregnant was to lose 10-15 lbs. Keep in mind I was not super heavy at this point. I had gained maybe 10 lbs by the time we had gotten married. I was upset. And talked with a friend who told me to go see her doctor who specialized in infertility.

I visited that doctor and took all the test and ultrasounds and on the ultrasound, there it was. The Ring of Pearls around both ovaries. The doctor went over my blood results and said that I had a hormone imbalance which made it difficult for my body to know when to release an egg. Basically, my body didn't know when to start producing the hormones to tell my body to make an egg and then when to release it. So all the eggs just started lining up around my ovaries. She also advised that PCOS is related with insulin levels. My insulin levels were fine. (and incorrect insulin levels can make you gain weight and make it more difficult to lose weight.)

She put me on some clomid as part of my way to get me to ovulate. The first month I ovulated but nothing happened. No pregnancy. The second month I had a cyst and we had to stop clomid for the month. The next month after that we took a break again. I was getting frustrated. We gave up for the time being. And moved up north to Flagstaff, AZ where I started seeing a new doctor who said he was a fertility specialists. WRONG! He gave me high dosage of Clomid and didn't monitor me. He diagnosed me by looking at me and said I had PCOS because of facial hair. I was on clomid straight for 7 months. And he had me take Metformin which is an insulin regulator. I had a ruptured cyst that put me in the hospital and my periods were the worst they have ever been.  And the mood swings, Matt wanted to volunteer to go to Afghanistan to get away from me. I am a red head, my temper is already pretty short so it was really BAD! Looking back I feel like I had a black veil over me. Everything was just tainted differently than it should have been. It was not good and that 7 months was the worst of our marriage. We fought more than we ever had and he didn't even want to touch me!

We gave up, in the sense of no more doctors at least for awhile. Still stayed on Metformin and started to gain weight. So this was 2006. By 2010, Matt was deployed and had a strong impression that we needed to find another doctor to get started on our family. A good family friend had gotten pregnant by a REAL Endocrinologist (hormone doc) and I called that doc. I met with the doc, told them about my experiences and that I REFUSED to go on clomid because it was so awful for me! The doc agreed and told me what he suggested. Regular monitoring and I was going to take hormone shots to jump start my body. Instead of putting a hormone into my body tricking it to do something (clomid) We were going to shoot me up with the actual hormone to make my body do something! I took some other tests to make sure that all the pipes were clean and working, and Matt was gone for 2 more months anyhow so we had a little time to kill. I did do one round of shots before he got home as a control to figure out dosing and make sure it even worked. Well it did work but not as fast as we wanted it to. So for the first "real" round my dosing was upped. I was getting blood tests very frequently, so much so I have a preferred vein I like to use and it is named "Old Faithful!" And every time I have to go have my blood taken I tell the vampires where it is at and that it is deep but works every time. Half the time I get stuck in the blind because they can't find it but it works every time, when they trust what I say and listen to me.

Anyhew, that round worked but I didn't get pregnant after Matt got home. I had to skip a month due to going out of town. The next month we decided to pair the hormones with my first IUI (inter uterine implantation) They take Matt's soldiers, clean them, and then implant them directly into my uterus using a catheter up there. The soldiers still have to "find the egg" as it were and do their job. Not an IVF where they take the egg from the female and the guys soldiers and combine them together outside of the body then implant the eggs back into the female for implantation.

We were going to find out on our Anniversary if the IUI worked. Sadly it didn't. We also had word from Matt's military that he was going to be deployed in October to Iraq. So we didn't have enough time by the time my cycle came around to do another round before a HUGE trip we had been planning on doing. So we did our HUGE 2.5 week trip to Disney World and then a cruise to the Caribbean. We had a great time. I got pampered by my husband. We went on 2 amazing tours of WDW and the cruise was more fun than we ever dreamed. I got massages and acupuncture while on the cruise. We found out that his deployment was postponed for the time being. YES! And the day after we got home my cycle started!

I called my doc and told them and they got me started on the shots by day 3. We were rolling. And everything was happing way faster and better than it had the other 3 rounds. By 2 weeks we were ready to go. Halloween I took my HCG shot to trigger ovulation, (ouch, that one HURTS!) and November 2nd was my IUI! 2 weeks later we found out we were pregnant with Mason! It worked. Since then I have had 3 spontaneous pregnancies. 1 resulting in another baby, Collin.

When I was doing the fertility treatment I was exercising and I had lost 35 lbs. I was below 200 when I got pregnant, just below but I was in the 190's range! I was running. Eating wasn't all that great but I was still learning what to put in my body. I wasn't eating the rights amounts or kinds of foods really. When I found out I was pregnant with Mason I stopped exercising because I didn't want to lose Mason. Worse mistake I ever did! And I started eating food again (I was on slim fast to control my calories.) I wish I didn't do that! And I didn't exercise prior to getting pregnant with my 2 next pregnancies which both ended in miscarriage. With Collin I was very active and stayed that way. Now I am trying to do the same, if my morning sickness will allow me!

What is cool though I had been told by my 3rd fertility doc; the one that got me to work, he said that sometimes when a woman with PCOS get pregnant and has a baby it can jump start her body to doing what it should be doing, regular ovulation and periods. I hoped it would and was surprised when it did. Now we can't turn me off. But you know what, I am amazed with my body that it is working and that I have 2 healthy boys and another on the way. I pray everyday that me and the Baby are watched over and protected and that if it is God's will that I can continue to carry the baby and have it part of my family.

I promise you that if you were told that you have PCOS you can still have children. It might take some time, but it can still happen. My advice to you, find healthy activities to do and a great meal plan and stick with it. It is good for your body and good for you when you do get pregnant. Just hang in there. I know how you feel. The sadness that you get when you see other people with babies. Or hear how so-and-so didn't even try and they now have 3 kids when you don't have any. Or the pressure from your family or religion to pop babies out. I get it. I was there for 9 years. Wishing, hoping and praying that I would have a child of my own. Never really thought that I would have 3 though after it taking so long just to get one. In the end, learn to love yourself, forgive yourself because you will be secretly mad at yourself because you can't be like a "normal" woman and have babies. And enjoy life with your partner. Babies will come.

My stats:
9 years of waiting
3 fertility doctors (1 real one)
54 shots in my belly
2 IUI's
6 pregnancies
3 live babies

****UPDATE 10/15/15
I miscarried pregnancy #5 on March 21st at just shy of 14 weeks pregnant. It was a very hard miscarriage and almost took my life because it was so traumatic. Hoping that we can get pregnant again soon though.

******* Update 9/29/16
I birthed a healthy 7 pound 5 ounce baby girl today! Elyse Cheyenne. She is my rainbow baby after my traumatic miscarriage last year. She had the exact same due date as my pregnancy last year and decided to make us wait and force her out. Born at 41 weeks 1 day.

So Relieved!

I am so relieved that I can finally talk about my pregnancy. It has been so hard writing and not to be able to tell you why I was having a hard time getting my weekly workouts in or why running was becoming more and more difficult.

So here it is! My excuses! I have had and still continue to have extreme exhaustion. And it is not like I am not sleeping. I am sleeping so much right now I am almost confused why I am so tired, but I am. I have to remind myself that I am doing 2 things at once right now. I am still nursing Collin and I am making a whole new baby. That takes a lot of energy and it is just zapping me and knocking me on my butt, more than I thought it would. And to accompany that I have had horrid morning sickness which means I am not eating as much as I probably should be to support nursing and making a baby. In the beginning I was trying to eat what I knew I should and I was getting so sick to my stomach after ever meal that I finally figured out that I needed to just eat more meals during the day but smaller amounts. Once I did that, the morning sickness has gotten better but I still have days where it is just, nothing looks good to me at all and I have to force myself to eat. And hunks of meat don't go well for me right now. I can't just eat chicken or beef. I have been enjoying rice and soups mostly, oh and eggs. Eggs are my staple right now. We are going through 3 dozen eggs a week right now. And I have now started drinking a tea that has been helping me with my morning sickness so I am excited for that to work. But I just can't wait to get past the first trimester and be done with all this morning sickness and exhaustion!

But other than that, I have been doing pretty well. I have times where I actually feel pretty good and forget I am pregnant, or start to worry if something is wrong. And per usual every commercial on TV right now gets me crying or anything sappy I am a total water works!

As I said on Saturday I am still planning on running my 10k on Sunday and also the 10 miler next month. I know I can do this, but I just have to be safe about it. I am still in the danger zone of being pregnant, but from my past experiences I know that there is nothing I can do to continue a pregnancy if it is not meant to be. So I have been wielding faith with every footstep. Saying a prayer, ever run I do, that the baby and I stay safe and that we finish happy and healthy. The days that I have done my long runs, I am pretty much out for the count the rest of the day. Or at least most of it. The 7 miles I did 2 weeks ago, I was dealing with my feet hurting from the shoes not working well, which made my legs hurt more than they should so I was pretty roughed up from that run. But I have my old brand and year back now and I am excited to break in my new shoes. (more on the shoes later this week!)